A surprising discovery
by Vegetableswillhavetheirrevenge
Summary: Arthur decides on a whim to follow Merlin... and discovers something he never expected. Not set at any specific point in time. Oneshot.


**Okay, I have no idea why I wrote this (especially being the affection-a-phobe I am), but it randomly popped in to my head. So I wrote it. When I should be going to sleep... Oh well, it was fun ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin**

* * *

Arthur just didn't understand it. Merlin was lanky, had big ears, and was completely rubbish at anything even _slightly_ manly (namely hunting, drinking and fighting). So why? Why, in the short space of time that was the hour since the young Prince had decided, on a whim, to don a cloak and secretly follow his manservant around (in hopes of finding some suitable blackmail material), had the clumsy idiot already received adoring gazes from a grand total of _fifteen_ of the castle staff, and even two noblewomen? It just didn't make sense! And to top it all off, the fool seemed completely oblivious to it! It just didn't make sense!

Moving slightly faster as they entered the lower town, heading towards a store Arthur knew Gaius often frequented for supplies, Arthur just couldn't seem to make sense of anything any more. This was supposed to be a fun trip, where he discovered some sort of fun weakness Merlin had. For example, maybe he was deathly afraid of spiders (that could lead to all sorts of mischief on the Prince's part). But no, that had been proven false when the gangly young man had helped one of his admirers to remove one of the eight-legged creatures from a window pane on the castle's third floor. And now, instead of revealing some sort of weak spot, the excursion had done nothing but reveal that Merlin seemed to have just as many (if not, possibly even _more_) ladies after him than the Prince himself!

No, Arthur reasoned, there was no way that was possible. He was simply imagining things. Like those two blonde girls over by the fruit stall a bit further on, or the brunette on the other side of the street- there was no way on earth that those flirtatious looks they were sending Merlin's way were real. Maybe he was just dreaming them?

"Ow!"

Alright, not dreaming then. And now he had a sore tongue.

He was still trying to think of a feasible explanation when it happened. Merlin stumbled, tripped over a loose stone, and went crashing into the self-same fruit stall those girls were stood by. Seconds later, there was chaos as the idiot sprang to his feet, an embarrassed smile plastered on his face and, amongst copious profuse apologies, went on to scurry about the pathway, loading his arms with the fallen fruit and delivering them back to the vendor. It seemed like every girl within range suddenly dived in to help the clumsy oaf, and within a matter of minutes the stall was righted, the fruit in place, the girls returned to their previous spots, and Merlin had mumbled another string of apologies to the stall's owner.

Another half a minute later, and Merlin had sped off down the street, obviously eager to get away from the site of his little mishap. Seeing the giggles of a few of the girls, Arthur followed behind slightly slower than before, instead making sure to catch at least a little of their conversation.

"…too cute, don't you think?"

"I know what you mean, he's utterly adorable!"

"And that little blushing smile- it just makes you want to hug him."

"Yes, and…"

It was at that point, that a particularly loud voice bellowed across the street, yelling something about "lovely onions", effectively preventing Arthur from hearing the rest of the (rather sickening) conversation.

Looking along the street, it didn't take long for the Prince to realise that the distractions had caused him to lose sight of his main goal for today's outing. Giving up (for now), he instead decided to mull over what he had discovered. _So the idiot had this up his sleeve…_

* * *

He was still pondering what could possibly be 'cute' about Merlin, when the lanky manservant in question stumbled in to the room, hoisting a mound of Armour. He spent several moments staring at the moron, trying to work out just what had been the cause of all of those adoring looks, before shaking his head, giving up.

"I just don't see it."

That said, he marched out of the room, leaving behind a very bemused manservant.

Arthur only got 43 admiring glances throughout the rest of the week.

Merlin got 159.

* * *

**Just to make this clear- as I still have the mental age of a six-year-old who still believes that the opposite sex have cooties (okay, maybe slight exaggeration, but you get the point :D), I fancy neither Colin nor Bradley. I just thought it would be amusing if Merlin had more admirers than Arthur. What do you reckon?**


End file.
